<<Exactly what objective criteria would you advance that we can see in the
fossil record which would allow us to infer the existence of the Image of
God?>>
I think Henry's list is a good place to start:
1. rational understanding (Gen. 1:28ff.)
2. moral obedience (2:16-17)
3. religious communion (3:3).
Note that #2 requires a code, and #3 requires an object of communion, not
mere "consciousness."
You know what this means, of course. There may NOT be any evidence in the
"fossil record." The evidence may go back only so far as the Sumerians.
Hard as it is to accept, Glenn, you may not be able to find evidence for
everything you desire.
<<Is the definition of the image of God someone who looks exactly as us?
If art, religious articles, burial, and altars won't convince someone that
there is a spirituality among a given ancient human, I fear that nothing
will.>>
What is "spirituality"? What is "religious"? These amorphous terms can be
mangled to mean just about anything. They are not rigorous enough to help
us here. Find a Neanderthal site with the 10 Commandments, and you're onto
someting. Otherwise, you may be simply foreclosed. Sometimes you cannot
impose your agenda on the physical record. Isn't that what you object to
with the YECs?
Jim